Albert Rusnak scored in the 79th minute and Stefan Frei made four saves to lead the host Seattle Sounders to a 1-0 victory over Minnesota United on Saturday night.

With the win, Seattle (6-2-1, 19 points) moved into a first-place tie with St. Louis City (6-2-1, 19 points) in the Western Conference.

Rusnak’s first goal of the season came on a throw-in following a substitution. Fredy Montero flicked the ball toward a wide-open Rusnak just outside the middle of the penalty box. Rusnak then ran up and blasted a right-footed shot past diving Loons goaltender Dayne St. Clair and into the bottom left corner of the net.

Frei finished with his fifth shutout of the season. The Sounders, coming off a 4-1 loss to rival Portland, improved to 4-0-1 at home and haven’t allowed a goal in all five games at Lumen Field this season.

St. Clair finished with two saves for Minnesota United (3-3-2, 11 points), which suffered its third straight loss. The Loons dropped to 0-5-0 all-time at Lumen Field and 1-11-1 all-time against the Sounders.

Frei made a pair of saves during a scoreless first half, stopping Hassani Dotson’s right-footed attempt from outside the box in the 26th minute and Robin Lod’s left-footed try outside the box near the bottom right corner of the goal in the 36th minute.

Bongokuhle Hlongwane had Minnesota’s best try in the second half at the 55-minute mark when he tried a right-footed shot off a Lod pass outside the box that Frei grabbed.

Seattle brought in MLS goal-scoring leader Jordan Morris as a substitute in the 66th minute and controlled most of the action the rest of the way. Morris, who has eight goals this season, had played 89 minutes on Wednesday for the U.S. men’s national team in a 1-1 draw with Mexico in the Continental Clasico in Glendale, Ariz., and set up Jesus Ferreira’s game-tying goal with a crossing pass in the 81st minute.

–Field Level Media